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Inside Cantor's stunning loss

Dave Brat's victory speech

Brat, a Michigan native, is 49 years old. He’s spent the last 18 years working as an economics professor at Randolph Macon College, a school of around 1,200 students located in Ashland, Va. According to news reports, he also spent time working as an economist in the Army and at the accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

He earned his bachelors degree from Hope College, a small liberal arts college in Holland, Mich. He would go on to get a doctorate in economics from American University. Brat, who is Catholic, got his masters from Princeton Theological Seminiary, an institution that, according to its mission statement, “prepares women and men to serve Jesus Christ in ministries marked by faith, integrity, scholarship, competence, compassion, and joy, equipping them for leadership worldwide in congregations and the larger church, in classrooms and the academy, and in the public arena.”

Brat launched his campaign in January. Like many tea party-aligned candidates, he said he wanted to address the nation’s ballooning deficit and that he wanted to be Cantor’s “term limit.”

But, even for a conservative hopeful, he took on the Republican establishment in unusually harsh terms. Shortly after launching his campaign, according to an account in the Culpeper Star Exponent, Brat held an event in which he suggested that Washington politicians charged money to pass laws. He also said that, to get a seat on the House Ethics Committee, a member would have to pay $150,000.

“These days everything is for sale in D.C,” Brat said at the time, according to the paper.

Appearing on Fox News after the race was called, Brat disputed the characterization of the race as being simply a battle between the tea party and establishment. He said he had won support from Republicans across the board who were attracted to his espousal of fiscal conservatism and “faith in God.”

“The press is always out to have these exciting stories to sell papers, and people actually do care about policy,” he said. “I give 30-minute stump speeches on policy and the press made fun of me. …Well the American people are ready for serious issues.”

Brat’s top strategist for much of the race was John Pudner, who operates an Atlanta, Ga.-based political consulting firm, Concentric Direct. Pudner spent the first two months of the contest working for Brat directly, then split off in March to start a Brat-backing super PAC.

Speaking by phone Tuesday night, Pudner said he was in shock. There were times during the race when he felt hopeful, he said, but even Brat’s strongest supporters didn’t see this coming.

“I think we’re all waiting to wake up to see if this really happened,” he said.

On Fox News, Brat called his win a “miracle.”

“I think the people are just ready for some major changes in this country,” he said, “and I was blessed. It’s a miracle.”